Overhead beam assembly

ABSTRACT

An overhead beam assembly of a concrete forming system. A wall-mounted self-climbing hoist is releasably secured to a wall section. An overhead beam assembly of a plurality of beam sections is supported on the hoist by columns. The overhead beam assembly includes a plurality of hubs that interconnect the beam sections to present a planar top surface and an assembly that is only as thick as a singly beam section. The novel overhead beam assembly has a substantially flat top surface and a single beam thickness.

This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.60/722,585, filed Sep. 30, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to apparatus for forming concrete walls and otherstructures and, more specifically, an overhead beam assembly used in theconstruction of concrete wall structures for multi-story buildings.

2. Background of the Prior Art

In the construction of a multi-story building, such as an officebuilding, apartment building and the like, these buildings may havethirty or more floors. Where concrete is used in the construction of theoutside or inside walls, it is necessary to provide cranes in thesetting up and then stripping of the forms from a set wall panel forreuse in continuing the completion of the wall. Unless a crane isavailable as required in the setting up and stripping of the forms thewall not only becomes costly, but additional cost increases are incurredby lost time on other operations that must be performed on a meshing orsynchronized time schedule with the wall forming operation. It isapparent also that appreciable down time of the crane may take place,when it could be more efficiently utilized on other jobs at the buildingsite. Where open crane time for timely handling of the form units is notavailable, construction usually proceeds behind schedule with resultantmonetary losses. In some instances, the size of the building beingconstructed relative to the building site may preclude the use of acrane thru various construction phases.

A system for constructing concrete walls about two stories high is shownin U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,318; and for multi-story buildings, in U.S. Pat.Nos. 4,043,087; and 2,118,374. Self-lifting form systems now in use aregenerally cumbersome and, although inconvenient to manipulate duringboth a wall climbing operation and a form handling operation, have beenfound to be generally satisfactory. U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,223 discloses aclimbing form hoist that includes a telescopic mast comprised of a pairof vertical lower mast sections for telescopically receiving associatedupper mast sections that are extended and retracted by a commonreversible electric motor. The upper mast sections carry an outer formunit. With the mast retracted and attached at its lower end to acompleted lower wall section, the inner and outer form units are bracedor tied together in any well-known manner after which a new lift or wallsection is poured. When the new pour has set, the outer form unit, afterbeing stripped from the wall structure, is elevated by the extension ofthe upper mast sections to a new pour position wherein its lower end isattachable to the previously poured wall section. The lower mastsections are then released from the wall, the upper mast section isretracted and the lower mast section again connected to the wall. Theinner form unit is then repositioned for another lift to be poured.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,576 discloses a climbing scaffolding which utilizesa guiding rail only as a vertical guide, but not to support the loadresulting from the weight of the scaffolding in the vertical direction.The ′576 patent requires its operators to manually fix the scaffoldingin its lifted position by inserting pins into cutouts or by placingwedges underneath to support the load. U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,287 disclosesa displaceable platform which is movable sectionwise on a wall,comprising support shoes, carrying rails, and a bracketing arrangementto support the platform.

It has now become known to use the self-climbing hoists to attach notonly forms on the side of the wall to which the hoist is attached, butalso forms for forming the opposite side of the wall. One such system issold by PERI GmbH. The PERI system uses an overhead beam assembly ofbeams running parallel and perpendicular to the wall being formed andwhich is supported on the self-climbing hoist and extends above the wallsection being formed to the opposite side. Forms for both surfaces ofthe wall section being formed are supported on the overhead beamassembly. Where the beams cross each other in the PERI system, one setis positioned above the other with the result that the overhead beamassembly is in two planes, separated from each other by the thickness ofthe beams. Since workers using the concrete forms and form systems mustmove above the overhead beam assembly during use of the form systems,the PERI system requires that they step over the upper set of beams andfurther that the top of the overhead beam assembly is a significantheight above the balance of the forming systems. The present inventionaddresses these problems by providing an overhead beam assembly that isin a single plane with a flat top surface that is significantly closerto the balance of the forming systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention consists of an overhead beam assembly for aconcrete forming system that does not require its components to crossover one another and so is oriented in a single plane and has a flat topsurface. The overhead beam assembly includes a plurality of beam membersthat are interconnected by one or more hubs. The hubs have at least twomounting surfaces to which end surfaces of the beams are releasablysecured in a moment connection by nut and bolt assemblies or the like.In a preferred embodiment, the hubs have four vertical mounting surfacesoriented in two opposing pairs at right angles to each other. By using aplurality of beams and hubs, an overhead beam assembly of any desiredconfiguration can be formed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a an upper perspective view of a concrete structure beingformed by concrete forming systems, including a plurality ofself-climbing hoists and an overhead beam assembly of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an upper perspective view of a hub of the present invention.

FIGS. 3 a-3 c are an upper perspective of an overhead beam assembly, anenlarged detail view of a clamp assembly for holding a separate beammember on the overhead beam assembly, and an enlarged detail view of ahub attached to four beam members, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a concrete form assembly showing anoverhead beam assembly of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated generally at10 a concrete forming assembly including a plurality of self-climbinghoists or lifters 12, a mast 14 on which the hoists 12 are supported,and an overhead beam assembly 16 that is supported on and aboveplatforms 18 of the hoists 12 on columns 20. The overhead beam assembly16 is comprised of a plurality of beam sections 22 that areinterconnected by a plurality of hubs 24. Note that the overhead beamassembly 16 has no beam sections or other structure that cross over eachother, but instead is constructed entirely in a single plane and has asubstantially flat top surface. Portions of the concrete structure havebeen formed, including floor sections 26 and wall sections 28.

A hub 24 of the present invention includes a top plate 30 and anopposite, spaced-apart, parallel bottom plate 32. The plates 30 and 32are each octagonal in the preferred embodiment. Four beam mountingplates 34-40 are arranged every 90° about the hub 24 and are secured tothe plates 30 and 32. The top and bottom plates 30 and 32 and themounting plates 34-40 are each perforated with a plurality of openings42 through which nut and bolt assemblies can be used as described below.In the preferred embodiment, the hub 24 also includes bracing plates 44and 46 which interconnect the plates 30-32 to strengthen the hub 24.

In FIG. 3 a, a plurality of beam sections 22 and hubs 24 have beenassembled to form an overhead beam assembly 16. The detailed view ofFIG. 3 c shows how the end plates 48 of the beam sections 22 andattached to the mounting plates 34-40 of the hub 24. At times, it may bedesirable to have a separate beam section 50 cross over part of theoverhead beam assembly 16, as illustrated in FIG. 3 b. A clamp assembly52 is used to secure the beam section 50 to the overhead beam assembly16.

In FIG. 4, forms 54 for forming the surface of the concrete wall section28 adjacent a hoist 12 may preferably be supported on the overhead beamassembly 16 for lateral movement toward and away from the wall section28 by a trolley 56 (FIG. 4). Preferably, the beam sections 22 that formthe overhead beam assembly 16 have a wide bottom flange on which thetrolley 56 is supported for rolling movement longitudinally of the beamsection 22. In this way, workers can easily move the form 54 intoposition for forming the concrete wall section and, after the wallsection has set, easily strip the form and retract it away from theformed wall section. FIG. 4 illustrates the flat upper surface of theoverhead beam assembly 16, showing a worker walking across its topsurface unimpeded by any obstructing beams positioned above one another.Note also that the distance from the top surface of the overhead beamassembly 16 to the other structures of the concrete forming system 10are reduced when the overhead beam assembly is in a single plane.

In the preferred embodiment, the hub 24 is made with a major axis thatis longer than a minor axis to increase the flexibility of the hub 24 inmodular forming systems. Specifically, the major axis is 24 inches andthe minor axis is 18 inches.

The foregoing description and drawings comprise illustrative embodimentsof the present inventions. The foregoing embodiments described hereinmay vary based on the ability, experience, and preference of thoseskilled in the art. The foregoing description and drawings merelyexplain and illustrate the invention, and the invention is not limitedthereto, except insofar as the claims are so limited. Those skilled inthe art who have the disclosure before them will be able to makemodifications and variations therein without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

1. An overhead beam assembly of a concrete forming system, comprising:(a) a wall mounting releasably secured to a wall section; (b) aplurality of beam sections; (c) a hub that is releasably attached to oneor more of the beam sections to form an assembly having a substantiallyflat top surface and a single beam thickness; and (d) columns forsupporting on the assembly on the wall mounting.
 2. The overhead beamassembly as defined in claim 1, further comprising forms for forming awall section suspended from the assembly for movement between a working,set position and a stripped position.